By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson gave a talk Wednesday at the right wing Hoover Institution that hovers over Stanford University, in which he committed to a Forever War in Syria. The talk was a mishmash of incompatible talking points and full of inaccurate and tendentious assertions, […]
Archives for January 2018
Despite Challenges, Palestine Plans Solar Energy in 500 Schools
TeleSur | – – While the U.S. and its leader dismiss climate change, the Palestinian government is endorsing renewable energy sources. Despite mounting pressure on the Palestinian government and people by both the U.S. administration and the Israeli occupation, Palestine is attempting to confront the global threat of climate change head on as it plans […]
Tunisia is back on a knife edge – here’s why
By Pamela Abbott and Andrea Teti | (The Conversation) | – – While celebrating the seventh anniversary of the ousting of president Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, Tunisians have been demonstrating against their government. Thousands have been taking to the streets in Tunis and throughout the country, in some cases leading to arrests and running battles […]
Rouhani: Iran won’t allow unfair pressure on Qatar
Middle East Monitor | – – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that his country does not accept “unjustified and unfair pressure” exerted on the Qatari people and government. Rouhani made the remarks as he welcomed Qatar’s Parliament Speaker, Ahmed al-Hamoud, in Tehran, the Iranian official news agency reported. “Iran and Qatar have been and […]
As US throws Kurds under the Bus, Is Turkey preparing to invade Syria?
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The BBC reports that Turkish armed forces are massed on the border with Syria in preparation for a possible move into the Kurdish-held areas of Afrin and Manbij. The Kurdish militia, the YPG, took Manbij away from ISIL with US support. Afrin, home to some 500,000 […]
Its Central Council calls on PLO to de-Recognize Israel, cease Security Cooperation
IMEMC News | – – The second-highest decision-making body of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) decided Monday to call on the executive committee to suspend recognition of Israel until Israel recognizes the existence of Palestine, and annuls its annexation of Jerusalem, marking the latest fallout from Donald Trump’s December 6th claim of Jerusalem as the […]
Iran says planned US-backed force inside Syria would fan war
Middle East Monitor | – – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Tuesday a new US-backed, 30,000-strong force inside Syria constituted a breach of international law and Syrian sovereignty, joining Syria, Turkey and Russia in a vehement rebuke of the plan. On Sunday, the US-led coalition said it was working with its Syrian militia allies, […]
Trump as the Termite-in-Chief boring away at Global American Influence
By Alfred W. McCoy | (Tomdispatch.com) | – – As 2017 ended with billionaires toasting their tax cuts and energy executives cheering their unfettered access to federal lands as well as coastal waters, there was one sector of the American elite that did not share in the champagne celebration: Washington’s corps of foreign policy experts. […]
Turkey threatens war against US/Kurdish Force in Syria
By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – The US announcement that it would form a 30,000 strong policing force in northeast Syria from the YPG leftist Kurdish militia has provoked unprecedently strong words from Turkey, and signs of an unusual convergence of Syrian and Turkish foreign policy objectives. In the cross-hairs are 2,000 […]
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